Iran Protests: After Deadly Repression, Regime Arrests Leading Activists
Iran’s authorities have condemned a UK couple to 10 years in prison.
The family of Lindsay and Craig Foreman (pictured), both in their 50s, confirmed the sentence.
The couple were arrested in January 2025 while on a motorcycle trip through Iran, despite having valid visas, a licensed guide, and a cleared itinerary, In their trial in October at Tehran’s Revolutionary Court, they were not allowed to present a defense.
“We are deeply concerned about their welfare,” said their son Joe Bennett. He urged the UK Government to “act decisively and use every available avenue” to bring them home.
Bennett noted that Iranian authorities have presented no evidence of espionage and that the Foremans’ lawyers were told there was no legal basis for the case. Applications for bail were ignored.
The couple are being held in separate wings of Tehran’s Evin Prison. Bennett said they are in dire conditions, surrounded by “dirt, vermin, and violence”, and losing weight.
UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper, denouncing the sentence as “completely appalling and totally unjustifiable”, said, “We will pursue this case relentlessly with the Iranian government until we see Craig and Lindsay Foreman safely returned to the UK and reunited with their family.”
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and intelligence services regularly seize foreign and dual nationals, holding them for political leverage and prisoner exchanges. In one case, UK-Iran dual national Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was held from April 2016 to March 2022.
